Shubhanshu Shukla’s mission linked to India’s first astronaut Rakesh Sharma: A secret memento, yoga

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla once said Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, India's first astronaut, has impressed him and has been his idol. Sharma travelled to space in 1984. 

"I was born in 1985...I grew up reading about him in textbooks and listening to his stories from space. I was deeply, deeply impressed by him," Shukla said.

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, an Indian Air Force officer, became the second Indian astronaut to be in space and the first to join the International Space Station. Shukla is the pilot of the Axiom Mission-4, which launched into space on June 25 (12:01 pm IST). 

He launched aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft along with three other crew members -- one each from the US, Hungary and Poland.

Shukla's voyage comes four decades after Indian astronaut Rakesh Sharma joined a Russian Soyuz spacecraft – Soyuz T-11 – in 1984 for an eight-day stay in orbit.

'1. A mentor': Rakesh Sharma's connection to Axiom mission

Shubhanshu Shukla said earlier this year that the first Indian astronaut, Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, was actively involved in the Axiom mission crew selection process.

"Right from the process of astronaut selection and to the modalities of finalising what kind of training we need to do and what kind of setup we need to have. So I would say that he is really intertwined in the proceedings of the human spaceflight mission that we were already executing, and we regularly, keep in touch," Shukla said.

He added, “He [Rakesh Sharma] is kind of a mentor for me who is advising me on a lot of things...how to prepare for this mission.”

2. Yoga experiment

Like his "mentor" Rakesh Sharma, Shubhanshu Shukla plans to perform yoga in space.

Rakesh Sharma became the first human to practise yoga in space. He performed ‘aasnaas’ using a harness that stopped him from floating around. NASA said that "yoga" experiment aboard Soyuz T-11 could "probably be considered the most curious of the medical experiments".

"In the 'yoga' experiment, performed by cosmonaut-researcher Sharma, an attempt was made to study the possibility of using yoga exercises during space flight and their effectiveness in preventing harmful effects of weightlessness on the muscular-support apparatus," NASA said in a document from 1985.

Now, 41 years later, Shubhanshu Shukla plans to follow his idol's footsteps.

When asked about performing yoga in space, Shukla said, “Yes, now that you have said so, I would probably demonstrate a few poses of yoga while we are up on the station.”

Shukla, who has been nicknamed 'Shux', said that practising yoga in space could offer valuable insights into the physical and mental effects of microgravity on astronauts.

3. 'Secret' memento for Rakesh Sharma

In a press conference on January 31, Shubhanshu Shukla was asked if he is doing anything or flying anything to connect his individual experiences to those of the nation's first citizen in space.

Shukla responded, saying that he would be carrying a special memento on his space flight for his mentor, Rakesh Sharma. But "it's a secret". He said the special memento would be revealed once he returns from the Axiom-4 mission and meets Sharma, who has guided him throughout the training period.